DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Election/Restrictions
Applicant’s election without traverse of species II in the reply filed on 10/3/2025 is acknowledged.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claim(s) 13-17 and 20-34 is/are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Yaremenko (US2011/0272413).
13. A collapsible fuel container (Figs. 1-7 at 12 and 14, where inner tank is collapsible) comprising: a container body (14) defining an exterior body of the collapsible fuel container; an inner bladder (12) defining a hollow interior, the inner bladder being disposed within the container body and configured to be filled with a fuel and expanded; a body restraint harness assembly (18), the body restraint harness assembly being secured to an exterior portion of the inner bladder (where the harness is attached to the inner and outer bladder, when the inner bladder is located in the outer container) and substantially preventing at least one of vibrations or g-forces through the collapsible fuel container (the container functions as such); and a tiedown harness assembly ( where the harness is both a restraint harness and a lie down harness, 18) , the tiedown harness assembly being disposed about an exterior portion of the container body (Fig. 1) and being configured to secure the collapsible fuel container to a platform (where the harness functions as such).
14. The collapsible fuel container of claim 13, wherein the body restraint harness assembly includes one or more lateral restraint harnesses that extend along a length of the inner bladder and one or more radial restraint harnesses that extend along a width of the inner bladder (Fig. 1).
15. The collapsible fuel container of claim 14, wherein the one or more lateral restraint harnesses include two or more lateral restraint harnesses spaced radially along the inner bladder (Fig. 1).
16. The collapsible fuel container of claim 15, wherein the one or more radial restraint harnesses include two or more radial restraint harnesses spaced laterally along the inner bladder such that the two or more radial restraint harnesses are substantially square with the two or more lateral restraint harnesses (Fig. 1).
17. The collapsible fuel container of claim 13, wherein the tiedown harness assembly includes one or more lateral tiedown harnesses and one or more radial tiedown harnesses (Fig. 1).
20. The collapsible fuel container of claim 13, wherein the container body and the inner bladder together are resistant to high velocity projectiles up to 600 ft/s without puncturing the inner bladder (Fig. 1).
21. The collapsible fuel container of claim 20, wherein the container body is made of a poly- para-phenylene terephthalamide material (Fig. 1).
22. The collapsible fuel container of claim 20, wherein the container body includes a coating of thermoplastic urethane (Fig. 1).
23. The collapsible fuel container of claim 20, wherein the inner bladder is made of nylon (Fig. 1).
24. The collapsible fuel container of claim 13, further comprising one or more baffles disposed within the inner bladder, the one or more baffles being configured to prevent fluid surge of the fuel within the inner bladder (Fig. 1).
25. The collapsible fuel container of claim 24, wherein the inner bladder has a width and the one or more baffles have a baffle width that is less than the width of the inner bladder such that the one or more baffles define a gap between the one or more baffles and the inner bladder along the width (Fig. 1).
26. A collapsible fuel container (see the rejection of claim 13, Figs. 1-7) comprising: a container body defining an exterior body of the collapsible fuel container; an inner bladder defining a hollow interior and having a width, the inner bladder being disposed within the container body and configured to be filled with a fuel and expanded; and one or more baffles (28) disposed within the inner bladder and extending from a bottom side to a top side of an interior of the inner bladder, wherein the one or more baffles having a baffle width that is less than the width of the hollow interior of the inner bladder (allowing it to fit within the inner bladder).
27. The collapsible fuel container of claim 26, wherein the one or more baffles include a generally wavy shape defined by one or more wavy sections that extend along the baffle width (Fig. 8).
28. The collapsible fuel container of claim 27, wherein the one or more wavy sections include one or more first wavy sections that bend in a first direction and one or more second wavy sections that bend in a second direction opposite the first direction (Fig. 8).
33. The collapsible fuel container of claim 26, further comprising a body restraint harness assembly disposed about an exterior portion of the inner bladder, the body restraint harness assembly being configured to substantially prevent at least one of vibrations or g-forces through the inner bladder (Fig. 4).
34. The collapsible fuel container of claim 33, wherein the body restraint harness assembly includes one or more lateral restraint harnesses that extend along a length of the inner bladder and one or more radial restraint harnesses that extend along a width of the inner bladder (Fig. 4).
Allowable Subject Matter
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: claims 1-6 and 11-12 are allowable, regarding claim 1 lines 7-8 are not obvious, in light of the other claim limitations of claim 1.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Claims 29-32 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Conclusion
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to KAREEN KAY THOMAS whose telephone number is (571)270-5611. The examiner can normally be reached 9:00am-5:00pm.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Orlando E. Aviles can be reached at 571-270-5531. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/KAREEN K THOMAS/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 3736
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